The Rat-King
Summary The Rat King is a character in The Black Pillars. The Rat King is a Phantasm of the Neverworld, a being who is born from the stories and imaginations of the sentient beings of the Everworld. The Rat King lives as an information broker in the upper layers of the Neverworld, though his network of rat spies extend through various layers of the Neverworld. He is the "foster father" of Fiona Ni Sidhe, allowing her to stay in his home and caring for her when she was a homeless amnesiac child on the streets. The Rat King's motives are unknown. Appearance The Rat King is made of a mass of hundreds to thousands of rats all twisting together. This rat swarm typically forms a hunched but vaguely humanoid shape, though it is still too large, too wide and too shapeless to appear fully humanoid. A large ragged dark green cloak hides the majority of his "body" from others, with a hood covering his "head". In the darkness of his underground home, it is almost impossible to see into the shadows of the hood, but if one looked closely, they would see pinpricks of light shining in the eyes of a dozen rats. When the Rat King goes outside his home (which is rare), he wears a white leather plague doctor mask. The Rat King does not appear to walk - rather he glides, on an ever shifting, skittering carpet of rats on the ground below him, the rats climbing over each other to move. He is unable to raise his "arms" on his own so when he goes to grab items, he tends to raise his sleeves on a pillar of rats from the ground and have a few rat from his swarm come out to pick it up and deposit them in his sleeves where the rest of his rats move it into his mass and hold it there. The Rat King does not have a human tongue, so he cannot speak normally. Instead, his speech is composed of hundreds of squeaks and chittering noises from his rats at different volumes and pitches that mimic speech in a barely understandable sound. Personality The Rat King tends to creep people out, due to his appearance and "voice" being deep in the uncanny valley. Because of this, they don't tend to trush him very much either. However, he is honest in his dealings, providing information in exchange for various forms of payments. He is harsh towards Fiona, often berating her or being otherwise irritating to her. However, Fiona claims that he does care for her, as there were many times that he could have abandoned her, and he has done her several kindnesses and provided for her altruistically. Personal Statistics Alignment: True Neutral Name: 'The Rat King, "Phantasm of Plague" '''Origin: The Black Pillars ' '''Gender: '''Innaplicable, the genders of individual rats vary, though uses with male pronouns '''Age: Several centuries, has existed since the concept of the Rat King in the middle ages Classification: Phantasm, Concept/Story of Plague Birthplace: The Neverworld Likes: Sweets, bacon, plague masks (he likes collecting them) Dislikes: People killing his rats Hobbies: Values: Status: Affiliation: Previous Affiliation: Themes: Combat Statistics Tier: Unknown Powers and Abilities: Limited Intangibility (attacks can pass through his body without causing extensive damage to him, as he is just a swarm of rats), limited concept manipulation / can damage abstract existences (can attack other Phantasms), Plot Manipulation and Durability Negation (can draw others into his "story" of damaging them), Disease Manipulation (as the embodiment of an idea of the plague rats, he can weaponize the concept of "infecting and killing others with the plague", allowing him to infect and kill others with diseases even if they would normally be resistant to or unaffected by diseases), limited Blood Manipulation (his diseases are present within his blood and bodily fluids, infecting those who come in contact with him, though he can hold back this effect), Telepathy (is telepathically connected to any rat composing his body or within his swarm), Absorption (can absorb other rats into his hive mind swarm), Duplication (can create more rats within himself, presumably by breeding them), Abstract Existence (is an embodiment the idea and story of the Rat King and the plague rats), Immortality (types 1, 3, 4 and 8, reliant on humanity's belief in the ideas/stories of plague rats, the Rat King, and to a degree Alaya), Non-Corporeal (Phantasms are living ideas, and cannot be affected by anything that cannot affect living ideas and stories), Regeneration (High-Mid to Low-High normally, even if his swarm is dispersed, or all but one rat are killed, he can reform by merging with other rats. True-Godly via Alaya, as Alaya will restore Phantasms if they are erased and reject any alterations to their being that does not fit with the dominant belief of their existence, including effects such as Petrification, Transmutation, personal Time Stop, etc), Conceptual Absorption (all Phantasms are capable of "consuming" other compatible "ideas" conceptual beings into themselves, gaining their power, abilities, and belief - the Rat King has done this to several other rat or disease related phantasms), Resistance to Conceptual Manipulation and Plot Manipulation (can resist alterations to his "idea" and "story", such as from the Narratives of Narrators), Existence Erasure (can resist Alaya attempting to erase him from the Everworld for a time, though he will be erased eventually), and Disease Manipulation (any disease to infect him, including diseases of a similar conceptual nature to his own, are simply absorbed into his being and merged with the plagues he can release, and do not harm him) Attack Potency: Unknown (has never shown destructive feats, instead overwhelming opponents with durability negating abilities and sheer number of rats) Speed: Hypersonic (comparable to Fiona) Lifting Strength: Class 5 with enough rats (capable of lifting and moving cars on waves of rats) Striking Strength: Unknown Durability: Unknown (attacks generally pass through him, killing several of his rats, but not overall harming him), swarm body and regeneration make him difficult to kill Stamina: Unknown, likely high Range: Extended melee range to tens of kilometres with rats (his network of rats extends throughout an entire city) Standard Equipment: None notable, though wears a white leather plague doctor mask in public Intelligence: Extremely high. Has lived for several centuries, and amassed a massive amount of knowledge and information in this time. Weaknesses: None notable Other Notable Victories: Notable Losses: Inconclusive Matches: